Thursday 6 October

Hello All:

Today was the day I was dreading, my qualifying physical. Failure to pass the physical would mean no job. The day started with my Manager picking me up at my hotel, imagine that FAA! First of all, about the hospital. The place was empty. Take a look at the web site. Very nice! For a hospital that is.

http://www.royalhospitaluae.com

We were greeted by the Flight Surgeon's personal nurse, I filled a form and was personally interviewed by the Doctor. He was the same age as me and asked me many questions and it was followed by a thorough physical exam. We talked about Iraq because that is where he was from. He fled two years ago. He said if you ask anybody with hindsight being 20/20, almost all would return back to the days of Saddam. For fear of their lives most proffessionals have left the country. He is for Obama.

So far so good. Stepped on the scale and I have actually lost weight since being here! Then off for the laboratory for more testing and drug test. I need to note if illegal drugs are found you go to jail for 4 years! Hearing test, Eye test, EKG, and the a interview that consisted of a psychological assessment, believe it or not I passed! Good for one year. I was there for 4 hours. I will start training soon! The most difficult thing will be to understand the pilots and ground crew must speak English, only every other word is. Grand Air crews sound like Walter Cronkite compared to these guys. Russians and East Indians.

The weekend starts tonight but I have no plans for tonight. Think I will just hang out here at the hotel and watch a movie. Plan to get up early and head up to Dubai and check out the souks (markets) need to get there early or I will not be able to find a parking space. I will probally check out a mall or two as well. It take about 45 minutes to get there. Take a look.

http://www.dubaitourism.ae/


Take Care
Mike

The Good Life

These are some more photos that I took in Dubai. Thinking of going up there this weekend for a day trip but I am really looking forward to moving into my new quarters. I will have a 30-40 minute drive to work but at $1.25 a gallon I will tough it out.

Some things that I have learned...Most of the laborers here are from Pakistan or India, or Bangladesh, they earn $200 a month. Working 16 hours a day 7 days a week, for three years, they are able to take their first vacation home. Working in 125 degree heat at 90% humidity. Unreal!

Tuesday

Not much to report. So I thought to add some more photos.

Monday 06/09/2008

Hello All

With the end of Ramadan things are starting to move. As a part of obtaining my resident visa, I had to go and obtain a fingerprint card. Here I am waiting in line with about 25 Indians and Pakistanis, a lot of fun, these people have no idea what a orderly line for service. And the Locals just do not care, they just go to the front of the line. Fortunately I will not have to deal with that again.

Looks like they found me a place to stay , take a look. I have been there a lot of construction, and if the bottom doesn't fall out of the market, this place will be very, very nice, and a good place to invest. It is very nice now. I was there last weekend and looked around. I will attach some photos.

I found out that I had inadvertently disabled anyone from making comment, fixed that so let me know how you like them.

Just Another Tuesday

Started out today going to work. Being a holiday I was able to leave after being there for about an hour and a half...rest of the day off. No work Wed. as well. Decided to take a drive and explore. Sorry but photos take so long to upload but I will attach a few to this blog. The countryside is similar to Arizona but as you can imagine much different as far as the other things. Along the way I had to avoid these guys, all over the place! I saw more camels today than I have ever seen in my life. You do not see many of these in AZ. Word to the wise do no hit one of these rascals, it will cost you! You see the all turn into racing camels if you hit them! Goats are cheaper but roam unfettered.

I then found my way back to the main highway and went to Al Hammara. Very nice! This resort/village is undergoing massive construction and is 5 star. Golf course, Restruants, Nite Clubs, etc. big problem here is power...none...villas stand vacant because there is no power...serious issue here. All on generators!

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Take Care
Mike

Another Day

The last few days have been uneventful. On the way back from Dubai I took a exit off the highway and headed across the desert towards the coast. The road was two lane and the scenery was awesome! Sand dunes, desert, same stuff you only see in the movies. Sand was drifting like snow across the highway. the road took me to Al Hammra, a new development that will quite nice. It is almost done and there is another golf course there. Haven't played it yet but plan to.

Didn't do much Sunday, went to work, picked up a few things at the store and went back to the room watched a movie and went to bed.

Monday the temps went down dropped to 87 degrees so I decided to go golfing, hooked with a couple of friends and played. I played with Simon, the teaching pro here and Terry who just got back from Kabul. He had some interesting stories to tell. He said the cost to ride from the airport to the green zone in Kabul can cost $10,000! Security forces outnumber troops over there. My game is getting better. Three pars in a row.

It is quite different playing golf under the lights. The ball duesn't seem to travel as far. The greens are slower because the have a different type of grass. They use this grass because they irrigate with a mixture of saltwater and fresh and the grass is tolerant to this mixture. The course itself is very nice with a lot of traps and waste areas. The fairways are tight but fair.

Thank Allah Ramadan is over!

More on Dubai

I Departed the hotel at about 10AM and decided to go the Shidagha part of town. It is across the creek from Dubai and has a nice riverwalk. Located there is the Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum House, the former residence of the Ruler. It was a museum and had different subjects in different rooms. The rooms housed pictures of old Dubai, described the marine lifestyle, stamps and coins and social life. Quite interesting.

The house was built in 1896 and this national treasure does a good job of explaining things.

After visiting the house I went into Old Dubai. Big mistake! Traffic was terrible. I wanted to visit the Gold Souk and take a look around but couldn't find a parking spot! Inching through the city I finally found my way back to RAK. I very interesting trip and will return soon. It is probally best to stick around one area and explore but I accomplished what my intentions were, to get a look around. What a place!